Angelica’s recipes – Pink pancakes

Those who have been following my blog know that I have a book coming out about Angelica Balabanoff at McFarland Publishersin April, The

Strange Comrade Balabanoff: The Life of a Communist Rebel. To celebrate the book launch, for the time being I will dedicate my blog to various themes about Angelica and amongst others her favorite recipes. In point of fact, Angelica did not cook. She was not even interested in food. For the majority of her life she was a vegetarian. Nonetheless, food played an important role in her existence. She used food to fight bourgeois traditions, which was the main battle of her life. My first blog post about Angelica’s recipes was devoted to her favorite food – cheese sandwiches. This one is about the only dish she could make – an omelet.

I will be honest. I’m cheating in this article about the Pink Pancakes . I do not know if Angelica has ever tired to make pancakes in her life, not to mention the beetroot ones. However I had two good reasons to make them. Firstly, it is a vegeterian and simple recipe, which is also RED because of the beetroot. Grated beetroot makes these pretty-in-pink pancakes a talking point at breakfast (or not, if you’re slipping vegetables into a fussy eater’s diet on the quiet). Secondly, it is also a week of Maslenitsa in Russia or crepe week – the last week before Great Lent, the week when Russian people make crepes, so I really wanted to make some for myself.

1 Whisk the egg until frothy. Add flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Pour in the apple juice. Give it all a good whisk, then fold in the beetroot and add the mixed spice.

2 Warm a frying pan over a high heat. Brush on some olive oil. Place dessert spoonfuls of pancake batter in the middle of the pan.

3 As soon as the pancake starts to bubble in the centre, flip it over for 2 minutes or so, until cooked through. Don’t be tempted to press the pancake down in the pan as it will expel all the lovely air bubbles that make it nice and fluffy.

4 When all your pancakes are cooked, drop a dot of butter on to the top of each, and then drizzle with honey.

Apples and beetrootes makes it sweet. Best served accompanied by a nice cup of tea.